The present invention relates to a damper device which is used as an abutment stopping member for adjusting a closed position of, for example, a hood, a trunk cover, a door, or the like of a vehicle.
The above-described damper device abuts against a hood, a trunk cover, or a door which is closed, for stopping the same, and in order to make the line of the hood, trunk cover, or door which is closed correspond with the body line, it is used to adjust the height of the closed hood or trunk cover, or adjust the position of the closed door. The damper device is formed by a damper main body which is cylindrical and at whose outer periphery a male screw is formed, and a grommet at which a female screw, which engages the male screw of the damper main body, is formed and which is mounted to a member to be mounted to.
Next, the mounting of the damper device will be explained.
First, by using a mounting hole provided at a predetermined position of a vehicle body, the grommet is mounted to the hole of the vehicle body. Then, the damper device is mounted to the vehicle body by screwing the male screw of the damper main body with the female screw of the grommet so as to mount the damper main body to the grommet.
Next, adjustment of the projecting length of the damper main body which projects from the grommet will be described.
First, in case the projecting length of the damper main body is long, i.e., in case the line of the hood projects outwardly above the body line, the damper main body is rotated and is screwed further with respect to the grommet such that the screwed length of the female screw with respect to the male screw, i.e., the screwed length of the grommet with the damper main body, becomes longer. In this way, the projecting length of the damper main body from the grommet is made shorter.
Further, in case the projecting length of the damper main body is short, i.e., in case the line of the hood is lower than the body line, the damper main body is rotated and the screwing of the damper main body with the grommet is adjusted such that the screwed length of the grommet with the damper main body becomes shorter. By making the screwed length shorter, the projecting length of the damper main body from the grommet becomes longer.
In this way, by rotating the damper main body with respect to the grommet, the projecting length of the damper main body from the grommet is adjusted to a predetermined length, so that the body line and the line of the hood match. The body line and the line of the hood can thereby be made to match each other.
Note that such a damper device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication (KOKOKU) No. 7-4905.
In this conventional damper device, in case the projecting length of the damper main body from the grommet is to be adjusted, the gap (difference in heights) between the body line and the line of the hood is measured. On the basis of this gap, the projecting length of the damper main body is adjusted by visual estimation. Thus, the projecting length of the damper main body must be adjusted two or three times until the gap between the body line and the line of the hood is eliminated, and thus, work efficiency is poor.
The present invention has been developed in order to overcome the above-described drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a damper device which enables the projecting length of a damper main body to be adjusted and set to a desired length easily and with good work efficiency.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention
A damper device relating to the present invention comprises: a damper main body having a shaft portion at which a plurality of engagement projection portions, which extend along a peripheral direction, is provided at predetermined intervals in an axial direction; and a grommet in which an outwardly-extending flange is provided at one end of a tube portion, and an elastic nipping piece which, together with the flange, nips a member to be mounted is provided at the tube portion. Also, an elastic anchor piece, which engages the engagement projection portions of the shaft portion to be pressed into the tube portion from a flange side, is provided at the tube portion.
It is desirable that the engagement projection portions are provided at one end portion of the shaft portion, and a male screw is provided at the shaft portion at a side away from the engagement projection portions. Also, the damper device includes a stopper which engaging the male screw, and by rotating the stopper with respect to the shaft portion and making the stopper abut against the flange, a projecting length of the damper main body projecting from the grommet is fixed.
It is also desirable that the damper device further comprises an abutment projection which extends in an axial direction at a portion where the engagement projection portions are provided, and which abuts against the elastic anchor piece.
In a damper device in another aspect of the invention, by screwing a male screw of a damper main body with respect to a female screw so as to change a screwed length, a projecting length of the damper main body projecting from a member at which the female screw is provided is adjusted. Projecting length change amount indicting means is provided at at least one of the damper main body and the member. The projecting length change amount indicating means indicates a rate by which the projecting length of the damper main body changes due to the rotation of the damper main body such that the screwed length of the male screw and the female screw is changed.